The
Department of Engineering Technology of Savannah State University (SSU) submits
this proposal to the National Science Foundation (NSF) Innovations in
Engineering Education, Curriculum, and Infrastructure (IEECI) program in order
to address these challenges.This
proposal, which requests funding of $100,000 for a one year exploratory project,
seeks to develop the framework of a comprehensive and innovative
Business of Engineering Education Model
(BEEM).It is anticipated that
this project will consist of two phases, the first exploratory as outlined in
this proposal, and the second a larger scale follow-on project to develop the
full scale model. The exploratory project aims to develop the framework that
relates the dynamics of engineering education and the outcomes of student
success. In order for such a model to be effective, there must be a significant
effort on research, data collection and analysis. Therefore, the model framework
developed in this project will support systems of uniformly recording, tracking,
and evaluating all of the teaching, advising, and mentoring activities inputs
and resulting outcomes. The exploratory project will lay the groundwork for a
follow-on process, whereby student data collection will be performed both during
the undergraduate program as well as into the students’ post-undergraduate
years, including graduate school, professional career, or a change of careers.By tracking the students and their post- undergraduate placements, the
economic impact of the core engineering education input parameters and the
effectiveness of the model can be assessed.Structured data collection and analysis will also facilitate the closer
integration of engineering programs with the K-12 community (students, parents,
and teachers), higher education, and industry and government.

The proposal
meets the critical NSF merit review criteria.It has global broader impacts because not only
will it result in increased engineering graduation rates for SSU individually,
but also because the business model that SSU develops will provide a systematic
processfor the understanding of
the business of engineering education that will have widespread applicability
and transferability to other teaching institutions across the country.This is vital for our nation’s prosperity and technological capacity. The
intellectual meritof the project is encompassed in the provision of a
comprehensive and rigorous framework for evaluating the impacts of effective
teaching, advising and mentoring on student outcomes. Key to the development of
a business model for engineering education is the in-depth understanding of the
relationships between inputs into engineering education such as teaching and
advisement and their outcomes of retention, degrees conferred, and impact on the
local economy. The project is well thought-out, including research collaboration
with our K-12, higher education, and business/industry partners, and will be
supported by well-qualified faculty and the institutional capacity of SSU. The
program builds on the successful NSF-funded HBCU-UP and LSAMP programs, which
integrate effective mentoring/advising with student/faculty research
collaborations. The project supports the diversity and research and education
objectives of NSF.